At first glance, Trevor Saropian appears unremarkable, running an office cleaning company.
So-called office cleaning companies specialize in providing routine maintenance services to large corporations, including regularly replacing lightbulbs, cleaning rotting plants, and even waxing exterior windows and floors.
However, according to the FBI, this company was merely a cover for Trevor Saropian's identity. He was actually a black-glove agent, specializing in solving "problems" for the wealthy.
Professional assassination was only one aspect of his duties; he also
engaged in "dirty work" like stealing trade secrets, kidnapping and ransom, and even purging witnesses. If the private investigations pursued by retired 110 Special Investigations Unit investigators were considered to be operating on the fringes of the law, then Trevor Saropian's activities were pure underworld
Such individuals were dead, and there wasn't much trouble. The real problem lay with New Age Technologies
, a New York-based high-tech company specializing in aerospace research and development.
While its scale is far inferior to SpaceX, a company that doesn't even dream of landing on the moon and constantly boasts of colonizing Mars, it nonetheless boasts a massive R&D team of thousands of employees.
The most problematic aspect is that this company not only has extensive ties to NASA (the Federal Aeronautics and Space Administration), but also has a strong military background.
In addition to its software development headquarters in New York, New Era Technologies also operates a massive manufacturing facility in Denver, Colorado, producing a wide range of military products for the military, including radars, military drones, and individual guided weapons.
As veterans, Reacher and the others are well-versed in the state of arms manufacturing in this country. While this company is a relatively new military enterprise, far from the same rank as giants like Lockheed Martin, Grumman, and Raytheon, it undoubtedly has the backing of certain political figures they can't afford to offend.
"Did you know something in advance?" Reacher looked at Jack suspiciously.
"Know what?" Jack was puzzled.
The large man gestured at his face. "All of this, the disguises, the disguises—you seemed to have known for a while that your opponent was someone special."
"When I learned Franz was your former colleague, and that he died after being tortured and thrown from a helicopter, I knew the killer had to be someone special. Otherwise, they wouldn't have immediately dispatched a private jet from New York to Arkansas to find you."
Jack had anticipated this question and had already thought of his response.
"And I didn't use a disguise out of fear of my opponent's identity," Jack reminded him, tapping his knuckles on the table.
"Back in Margrave, I wasn't an FBI agent yet, but do you think I operated in secrecy because I was afraid of the Kleiners?"
Jack's words sent Reacher into deep thought, and the others listening in couldn't help but become curious.
"What exactly happened to you in Margrave?" O'Donnell asked curiously, stroking his stubble.
"We'll talk about that later." Reacher's eyes lit up, and he probably understood someone's intention. "You're worried that the FBI's premature involvement will alert the mastermind."
Jack opened a document on his computer with a teachable smile. "This is a situation report from DHS about this 'AM'."
There were too many people at the scene, and he didn't want to waste time, so he just started explaining the details. "DHS has been keeping an eye on this guy for a long time, but they don't know much about him, just like what Sanchez and Orozco found out.
His nationality is unknown, and there are no photos. All we know is that he's a white male in his 40s, with a South American, Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern appearance."
"Sounds like a ghost." Dixon curled his lips. Jack's example wasn't meaningless. If people from these countries had any common characteristics, they could probably be summarized as Caucasians with black hair and dark eyes but deep facial features.
But people with this appearance are everywhere, almost as many as white people with blond hair and blue eyes, so it's not wrong to call him a ghost.
"His previous alias was Allen Millens, also abbreviated 'AM.' Six years ago, DHS agents uncovered a terrorist operation attempting to obtain an experimental nerve agent, apprehending all suspects.
This was the first time this mysterious 'ghost' came to DHS attention. They obtained three recordings linking him to the individual, but nothing else.
In this case, 'AM' served as a middleman. All we know is that he has no faith, or perhaps his only faith is money, and he works for whoever offers him a commission."
Reacher listened to Jack's explanation while skimming through the case report, his brow furrowing. "It says they used bearer bonds for transactions?"
Dixon, a former civilian officer, had been an accountant in the military before joining Reacher's 110th Special Investigations Unit. After retiring, he pursued financial investigations, much like Chris's previous work.
The difference was that Chris previously served shady clients like drug cartels, while Dixon specialized in auditing the accounts of private institutions and billionaires.
Hearing something about her profession, she leaned closer to Reacher. "Bearer bonds are indeed often used for tax evasion and money laundering, but the Federal Treasury stopped issuing them back in the 1980s."
"But some countries still use them," Jack clicked on an attachment. "At the time, 'AM' used bearer bonds issued in Luxembourg.
I contacted Joey this morning and asked him for some details. He'll be meeting us in New York later with two DHS officials." The Joey
Jack was referring to was, of course, his burly brother, Joey Reacher. His Secret Service was also part of the DHS, and besides managing key personnel, another important task of the Secret Service was combating counterfeiting and financial crime.
"So you suspect the '650 and 100,000 each' represent the transaction amount?" Negley blinked for a moment, then suddenly realized.
Jack spread his hands. "What else could it be? Our current leads include an arms dealer specializing in dealing with terrorists, an arms company, and three investigators who were inadvertently caught up in the operation and subsequently silenced.
'650' likely represents some type of weapon, and '100,000' is the unit price. In other words, we're dealing with an illegal arms deal worth an unknown amount of 65 million."
"Fuck," O'Donnell slapped his forehead. "Now it all makes sense."
(End of chapter)